The southern half of TV really does not have a post office....for 45,000+ residents here, and when I drive to Fruitland Park, Oxford or Lady Lake P.O.'s, it's always the same thing: lines out the door that do not move because there is one worker (Oxford) and people stand up there and have conversations, making others wait.....OR they stand in line only to hand the worker their daily outgoing mail because they don't use the drop box!
We only go to the P.O. when we need to weigh a package and get its postage, or if we have something that needs to go out that day, not the next and all other mail pickups are done (too early) for the day.
Everywhere else in the country, the post offices have Automated Postal Centers (APC) in the lobby, to alleviate the lines to the counter. Almost everything postal can be done at the machine, using a debit or credit card.
But none of the post offices have this here......they make you stand in long lines just to weigh a package and get its postage, or to buy Priority postage so you can send it that day, not the next!
This is what an APC looks like:
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/adamh...ster_Texas.jpg
Quote:
What Can an APC do?
As an ATM is virtually a stand-alone bank, an Automated Postal Center is virtually a stand-alone Post Office™:
APCs can do most of the transactions normally handled at the retail window APCs provide extensive mailing information along with ZIP Code lookup.
Using debit and credit cards, APCs enable customers to weigh and mail letters and parcels.
APCs dispense dollar bill sized sheets of 18 self-adhesive First-Class Mail stamps
They also dispense postage strips in any amount for mailing Express Mail, Priority Mail, First-Class Mail, and Parcel Post items.
What is an APC not able to do?
An Automated Postal Center cannot handle face-to-face transactions such as mailing items to other countries, since the majority of these items require customs forms and the contents are subject to host country restrictions. Examples of other services requiring face-to-face transactions include:
Registered Mail service
Insurance over $5,000.00 (Requires Registered Mail Service)
Money orders
Passports
Retail and Philatelic purchases
How an Automated Postal Center Works
The APC uses a touch screen and numeric keypad for customers to select products and services and receive postal information.
For the visually impaired, there is a headphone jack to enable you to listen to service options and large touch-screen buttons to select service options and obtain information.
Just follow the prompts on the touch screen from start to finish.
APCs accept both credit and debit cards:
When using credit cards you can pay for all items at checkout - just like in a grocery store. Banking restrictions related to debit cards require that each purchase is conducted on a pay as you go basis.
What are the advantages of an APC?
They help provide service quicker during busy periods and provide customers with unassisted access to the most frequently requested postal products and services.
In many locations, APCs are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Making services available when customers want to do business with the Postal Service™ improves customer service.
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http://faq.usps.com/eCustomer/iq/usp...Q&view%28%29=c[c_usps0809122]&varset%28source%29=sourceType:embedded#Capabiliti es
When I wrote an email to USPS telling them of the need for the APC's here, they basically said that in our area, "people wouldn't use them". Translation: "old people" prefer to go to the window and talk to the worker, and they wouldn't use debit or credit cards at an APC".
Maybe if we all write and tell them we're in the modern age of computers and debit cards, they'd install them.